Where mobile telephones were perhaps viewed by many as a luxury when first introduced into the marketplace, they are today viewed by our society as very important, convenient, and useful tools. A great number of people now carry their mobile devices with them wherever they go. This popularity of wireless communication has spawned a multitude of new wireless systems, devices, protocols, etc. Consumer demand for advanced wireless functions and capabilities has also fueled a wide range of technological advances in the utility and capabilities of wireless devices. Wireless/mobile devices not only allow audio communication, but also facilitate messaging, multimedia communications, e-mail, Internet browsing, and access to a wide range of wireless applications and services.
Although an incredible amount of content, applications, services, and the like is already available for use on wireless devices, current services do not provide a user-friendly technique for establishing a conference call or transferring a call from one mobile telephone to another. In this regard, consider the scenario where a first mobile user is involved in a current telephone call with a second mobile user, and a third mobile user, who is located proximate the second mobile user, desires to speak with the first mobile user during the telephone call. In such an instance, the third mobile user can speak with the first mobile user by using the second mobile user's mobile telephone. Alternatively, the second mobile user can initiate a speakerphone feature (if so equipped) to permit the third mobile user to speak with the first mobile user. In another alternative, the second mobile user can conference the third mobile user into the telephone call, or transfer the telephone call to the third mobile user.
Whereas current techniques for permitting the third mobile user to join a telephone call between the first and second mobile users are adequate in permitting the third mobile user to speak with the first mobile user, such techniques have drawbacks. In this regard, as the number of features of mobile telephones increases, the second mobile user may desire to transfer a telephone call to the third mobile user, and thereafter use the second mobile user's telephone for another purpose even though when they are not talking on the phone (i.e., a user may want to still use their own phone for other communicative reasons after transferring the call to the other user). In such instances, the second mobile user may find it undesirable to allow the third mobile user to use the second mobile user's telephone, particularly if the second mobile user does not trust the third mobile user, and/or the second mobile user's telephone is storing sensitive information.
Using a speakerphone feature of the second mobile user's telephone may not require the second mobile user to allow the third mobile user to use the second mobile user's telephone. However, the voice quality of such speakerphone features is typically much less than a headset, and rapidly diminishes the farther the users are from the telephone. Conferencing the third mobile user into the telephone call, or transferring the telephone call to the third mobile user, may permit the second and/or third mobile users to communicate with the first mobile user without diminished voice quality. Conventional conferencing and transferring techniques, however, typically require many inconvenient and non-user-friendly interactions with one or more of the mobile telephones and/or the network across which the mobile telephones communicate.